Pies on mountain high

Date: December 23 2012

Rohan Connolly

COLLINGWOOD players returned to Melbourne on Saturday morning after an intensive two-week training camp in Utah.

The Pies, who in 2005 pioneered the use of altitude training camps in AFL football, changed their base for this campaign after having spent six years based in Flagstaff, Arizona, with another trek to Potchefstroom in South Africa in 2008.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Age, coach Nathan Buckley said the switch in routine and the timing of this camp was about ''freshening up'' the list for a concerted tilt at the 2013 premiership.

The coach said the camp was held later in the year after the Magpies were given their annual leave earlier than usual.

''We couldn't be happier with making the change,'' Buckley said as the camp reached its final stages. ''It just feels like it has freshened the group up to come to a different venue. They need to explore a whole new place again.

''The elite training facility at the USSA [United States Ski Association] has been brilliant, the weights centre down there is unmatched in Flagstaff. The hikes here are not as high, but they're bloody hard when you're going up and down ski slopes, and we've also been able to find the right facilities for our footy.

''You don't expect to get full ground work over here, so we knew January and February would be the major months for our game-style practice, but we've been able to drip-feed it through small games in more confined environments, and work on our fitness as well, which were two main priorities.''

In the interview published today Buckley speaks in detail of the areas where Collingwood needs to improve to return to the top of the ladder and he assesses his own performance in the senior coach's seat after taking the reins from Mick Malthouse.